TidBITS#309/08-Jan-96
=====================
Welcome to 1996! In this issue we being you news on updates to RAM
Doubler, Fetch, and Netscape Navigator, plus some pre-Macworld
highlights and info on Roaster, the first Java development system
for the Mac. Also, Adam reviews recent developments with the
Newton MessagePad, Tonya takes a look at the Macintosh Software
Update Report, and we round out the issue with an overview of two
new Internet scripting technologies for the Mac.
This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 --
Makers of hard drives, tape drives, and neat SCSI accessories.
For APS price lists, email:
* Northwest Nexus -- 206/455-3505 -- http://www.halcyon.com/
Providing access to the global Internet.
* Hayden Books, an imprint of Macmillan Computer Publishing
Free shipping on orders via the Web -- http://www.mcp.com/
Mac Tip of the Day & free books! -- http://www.mcp.com/hayden/
* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 --
Now shipping... The Award-Winning MacOS Compatibles!
See what the press says! http://www.powercc.com/News/quotes.html
* America Online -- 800/827-6364 -- http://www.aol.com
The world's largest provider of online services.
Give Back to the Net -- http://www.aol.com/give/
* DealBITS: A new issue as of 02-Jan-96 - check it out!
Copyright 1990-1995 Adam & Tonya Engst. Details at end of issue.
Information: Comments:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Topics:
MailBITS/08-Jan-96
Newton News
Level-headed Help from LEVEL 6 Computing
Macs Scripting the Net
Reviews/08-Jan-96
ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1996/TidBITS#309_08-Jan-96.etx
MailBITS/08-Jan-96
------------------
**Web Issues on Hiatus** -- Due to life changes and moving on the
part of Bill Murphy, who translates TidBITS issues from setext to
HTML for posting on the Dartmouth site, recent issues haven't
appeared there. Bill will resume the translations soon, and we're
working on other ways of providing TidBITS on the Web. In the
meantime, you might want to check out TidBITS in HTML format on
the PathFinder site at: [ACE]
http://pathfinder.com/pathfinder/pulse/hsw/tidbits/tidbitsnew.html
**Please Feed the Nerds** -- Macworld Expo attendees may wish to
check out BMUG's free rent-a-nerd service. You can participate as
either a nerd or as a user seeking assistance. "Rented" nerds
provide guidance for dealing with the hype and confusion inherent
in an Expo the size of a European principality, and they may
accompany users out on the show floor. Nerds mainly earn
gratitude, but pizza is also considered appropriate payment. To
find out more, visit the User Group Room in Moscone's North Hall,
Room 121. [TJE]
**RAM Doubler 1.6.1 Update** -- Late last month, Connectix
released an updater to version 1.6.1 of RAM Doubler. This update
addresses a freeze during boot on some configurations using SCSI
Manager 4.3.1, and is compatible with ALSoft DiskExpressII 2.20
and the PowerBook 190. Like previous RAM Doubler patches, this
updater brings both the version of RAM Doubler currently installed
and your master disk to the current verison; see the ReadMe file
for instructions and additional information. [GD]
ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/cfg/ram-doubler-161-updt.hqx
**Netscape 2.0b5 Available** -- Netscape released version 2.0b4 of
Netscape Navigator late last month, but we aren't going to talk
about it much since 2.0b5 just appeared. Version 2.0b5 expires
01-Mar-96 and does not include the much-delayed support for Java,
although it does fix file corruption problems with some FTP
downloads and troubles with PowerBook 5300s. The release also
rolls in a "What's New" feature for bookmarks (letting you check
for outdated or changed bookmarks), regains compatibility with
System 7.0, and incorporates a number of user interface changes
(some of which have met with mixed response). This release also
purports to be more stable, although that claim is not evidenced
on my machines. The archive is about 2500K; please see the release
notes if you're thinking about using this release. [GD]
ftp://ftp.netscape.com/2.0Beta5/mac/netscape-2.0b5.sit.hqx
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/mac-2.0b5.html
**Java Roaster to Ship** -- Natural Intelligence has announced
plans to ship Developer Release 1 of Roaster, the first available
integrated Java development system for the Macintosh, this week at
the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Roaster lets Macintosh
developers write and test Java applets on Power Macs, and Natural
Intelligence plans to ship a 68K version soon. No publicly
available Web browsers for the Mac support Java yet, but Roaster
includes a runtime environment for Java applets, and applets can
(and should) be tested on other platforms with Java-capable
clients. The company's Web site says Roaster will be available as
a subscription for $299 (although their press release says $399),
which will include unlimited tech support and free updates through
the second commercial release of Roaster. [GD]
http://www.natural.com/
**Fetch 3.0.1b1** -- In TidBITS-307_ we mentioned that Fetch 3.0
has problems on 68000-based Macs (the Plus, SE, Classic, and
PowerBook 100) and truncates some files uploaded on machines
running Open Transport. Jim Matthews has released version 3.0.1b1
of Fetch, which addresses these problems, plus includes a setting
to bypass Fetch's Open Transport code (using MacTCP code instead)
in the event other problems appear with Open Transport. If you
experienced problems with Fetch 3.0, check out this release. [GD]
ftp://ftp.dartmouth.edu/pub/software/mac/Fetch_3.0.1b1.hqx
**Metrowerks Programming Kit and Promo** -- If you've wanted to
learn to program the Macintosh but didn't know where to start,
Metrowerks has something to think about. "Discover Programming for
the Macintosh" contains a complete working copy of CodeWarrior for
68K Macs plus the text of three books, Learn C on the Macintosh,
Second Edition and Learn C++ on the Macintosh (both by long-time
Mac programming author Dave Mark), plus Jim Trudeau's Programming
Starter Kit, which I recommend as a solid introduction to Mac
Toolbox programming with CodeWarrior. The books are on a CD-ROM in
Adobe Acrobat format, along with four Apple Guides that work with
CodeWarrior and Netscape Navigator. This product replaces
Metrowerks' Programming Starter Kit, and is priced at $79. If you
pick this bundle up at Macworld this week, you get paper copies of
Learn C on the Macintosh and Tricks of the Mac Game Programming
Gurus, plus a CodeWarrior t-shirt and a Metrowerks mouse pad. [GD]
http://www.metrowerks.com/products/books/
Newton News
-----------
by Adam C. Engst
Over the past few months, several interesting events have happened
in the world of the Newton, and since no Newton experts have
stepped forward to discuss them, I figured I would. I have and use
a Newton, one of the original MessagePads that were sold for about
$199 a year or so back. I like my Newton, but I only use it for
one thing - keeping track of present lists in Notion, which came
with the bundle I bought. With Tonya's birthday in late September,
mine in mid November, and Christmas in late December, I use the
Newton about four months each year. I don't keep contact or event
information on it since I seldom go anywhere, and when I do travel
I take a PowerBook with Now Contact and Now Up-to-Date files on
it.
In some sense then, I'm the perfect Newton user. I don't pretend
it's a computer, I don't expect it to act like a computer, and I
don't expect Apple to treat it as a computer. It's a simple
organizational tool for me, since I don't lose it during the eight
months when I sporadically add items to the present lists.
Apple's main Newton news is that they've released version 2.0 of
the Newton operating system to fairly impressive fanfare. Newton
2.0 won the Best of COMDEX award in the Operating System category
at November COMDEX in Las Vegas. For that, Apple deserves credit,
especially on a platform that hasn't received widespread acclaim,
despite having been lampooned in Doonesbury, the Simpsons, and
many other places for its handwriting recognition gaffes.
Newton 2.0 reportedly improves the Newton's handwriting
recognition significantly, so much so that people reported ceasing
to use Graffiti, a utility that required you to modify slightly
the way you wrote a few characters in exchange for almost perfect
recognition. Newton 2.0 can now switch into landscape mode, which
is no doubt more appropriate for certain applications. Other
enhancements include a better human interface, a "comb-style"
correction picker (to make correcting a single misinterpreted
letter easier), better performance, more consistent treatment of
unrecognized "ink," and an optional keyboard for more serious text
input.
The catch, of course, is that Newton 2.0 only works with the
MessagePad 120, and not with any previous versions of the
MessagePad. Current MessagePad 120 owners can have their
MessagePads upgraded to Newton 2.0 for $109 (call the Apple
Assistance Center at the number below), but owners of all other
versions of the MessagePad can take comfort only in a $100 rebate
on a new MessagePad 120 with the new operating system (call the
Newton Information Service at the number below).
I admit it's somewhat disappointing to see Apple charging for the
upgrade for MessagePad 120 owners and only giving older MessagePad
owners a $100 rebate, but I think that's my computer experience
talking. When you buy a normal appliance, you're lucky if you get
any rebate upgrading to a better model, and in most cases I doubt
you'd get much. The simple fact of the matter is that the Newton I
have now does what I want it to do acceptably, and that's good
enough for the amount of money I paid. Those who bought the
original MessagePad at full price and use it constantly for
everything it can do - much as one might use a computer - are
probably far more irritated than I about the upgrade policies.
So should you spend money on the upgrade or a new MessagePad? The
answer depends on how you use your Newton. If it's essentially a
computer to you, then yes, you will likely find the new
functionality compelling. If, however, you're more like me and use
the Newton as a secondary appliance, then, no, I don't think you
should upgrade, assuming you're happy with your Newton. There are
features I'd want in the Newton, but mostly I'd like to see
different form factors and case designs. That's when I'll spend
the money and retire my elderly MessagePad.
For an article from the December Apple Directions newsletter about
Newton 2.0, check the URL below.
http://dev.info.apple.com/appledirections/dec95/newton.html
Apple Assistance Center -- 800/767-2775
Newton Information Service -- 800/909-0260
Level-headed Help from LEVEL 6 Computing
----------------------------------------
by Tonya Engst
Do you support Macs for a living? If you do, you probably spend
too much of your valuable time keeping track of software updates,
time that otherwise could be spent using the updates or playing
around with HTML. Kevin Garrett once supported Macs for a living,
and he became so frustrated with trying to keep up with software
updates that he started the Macintosh Software Update Report. The
Update Report is a subscription-based, bimonthly newsletter
published by LEVEL 6 Computing, and it uses a variety of media to
cover the latest on updates from over 800 companies.
The Update Report narrowly focuses on updates - you won't find any
advertising, humor columns, or vaporware announcements here.
Instead, you'll find tightly written text explaining what products
have been updated, when each update came out, and what each update
changed. Each "issue" includes a paper newsletter, plus a disk of
setext files that you can index and a HyperCard stack of vendor
information.
Each printed newsletter lists updates from the past few months and
gives information about the changes. For instance, by randomly
flipping through the October 1995 issue, I learned that: Astrobyte
updated BeyondPress, a QuarkXPress to HTML converter; Connectix
released Speed Doubler 1.0.2; and Natural Intelligence released
DragStrip 2.0.1.
Subscribers also receive a disk that contains one setext file for
each update listed in the newsletter. (A setext file is a normal
text file in a specific "structure enhanced" format. TidBITS also
uses the setext format - send email to for
more information.) The setext files contain the same information
as the newsletter, but sometimes go into more depth. Setext files
lend themselves to being read in a viewer that lets you easily
jump between topics and sub-topics within all setext files stored
in a particular Macintosh folder (you might put them in a folder
called "Update Report"). A viewer also enables you to search among
the setext files stored in a folder.
The Update Report comes with Easy View, a popular viewer from Akif
Eyler (see TidBITS-194_ for more on Easy View). When a new issue
arrives, you can add the new setext documents to your Update
Report folder, and view the new documents along with older ones
that you've kept around. As more and more issues arrive, you
squirrel away the setext files and slowly develop a large,
searchable database that records changes in software versions.
Easy View was the cat's pajamas for text distribution back in
1992, and although it's excellent for what it does, electronic
publications these days need a Web presence. The Update Report is
on the Web, with samples for anyone to browse, and with a special
section for subscribers. The special section is updated frequently
(recent updates have been weekly), so subscribers need not wait
for the bi-monthly issues. Although the subscribers' section is
nicely organized by date, it would be nice to see it also offer a
searching capability.
http://www.webcom.com/level6/
Each issue's disk also comes with an updated HyperCard stack
listing vendor contact information, including how to find vendor
BBSs and sites on online services such as AOL and the Internet.
The stack currently has about 700 entries. The contact information
is also available to everyone on LEVEL 6's Web site, complete with
lots of live links. Large contact databases on the Web are nothing
new, and I think it's good to have more than one entity
maintaining a Macintosh-oriented contact database. My favorite
contact database is still at The Well Connected Mac, a Web site
devoted to "everything Macintosh."
http://www.macfaq.com/vendor.html
That said, do note that LEVEL 6 checks their contact information
to make sure it's accurate; The Well Connected Mac doesn't do any
such checking.
Although the Update Report has a friendly feel to it, new users
won't understand much of the terminology. That's okay, because the
publication is designed for savvy support people who need to know
technical details. The Update Report's pricing reflects its
intended audience. Casual Macintosh users won't pay $150 per year
for such a resource, but businesses who offer technical support or
consulting services may find their $150 well spent. Subscriptions
cost an additional $25 for readers outside the United States.
LEVEL 6 also offers "special pricing" to self-employed
consultants, offers Web-only pricing, and can arrange site or
volume discounts.
The Macintosh Software Update Report is just over a year old, and
its strengths lie in its technical content and mix of paper and
electronic media. Although the publication may be most useful to
those who have fast Web access, people without much Internet
access will still find it a useful tool. Also, people who want (or
require) paper get paper, but the text also comes on disk and can
be searched.
LEVEL 6 Computing -- 818/888-0675 -- 818/888-5635 (fax)
Macs Scripting the Net
----------------------
by Geoff Duncan
If you've heard anything at all about hot, emerging technologies
shaping the future of the Internet, you've heard about Java, a
platform-independent programming language developed by Sun
Microsystems. Java has been licensed by everyone from Netscape to
Microsoft for use in their Internet products, and offers the
possibility of smart, distributed "applets" that can be run on
virtually any platform.
http://java.sun.com/
One reason Java is such a hot commodity is that it is independent
of platforms and operating systems. In theory, the same Java
applet will run unchanged on a Macintosh, a Windows machine, a
Unix box, or almost any other platform. Java accomplishes this
trick by being written and compiled to a rather sophisticated
Virtual Machine - essentially a description of a single, generic
computer. Anyone wanting to run Java applets must provide an
environment that behaves like that Virtual Machine. In a sense,
computers running Java applets are providing an emulation layer in
much the same way SoftWindows lets a Macintosh run Windows
applications, with the crucial difference that Java was actually
_designed_ with this in mind.
**Bitter Beans** -- So far as Mac users concerned, there are three
problems with Java right now. The first is that it's vaporware.
The average Macintosh user has no way to run Java applets.
Netscape has yet to include Java support in the Macintosh beta
releases of Netscape Navigator 2.0 (although it has included
preliminary releases of JavaScript, a lightweight scripting
language based on Java). Other browsers and products may
eventually support Java, but as of this writing none appear to be
close to market.
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/version_2.0/
script/index.html
The second problem is that Java is a sophisticated, object-
oriented programming language with roots in Unix and C++. Java is
not friendly to the average user. Although Natural Intelligence
has just released a Java development environment for the Macintosh
(and both Metrowerks and Symantec have announced plans to produce
Java tools for the Mac), there's no way for the average Mac user
to take advantage of this technology. In a sense, an Internet user
getting excited about Java is like a dancer getting exciting about
a communications satellite. Sure, the satellite might let the
dancer receive an important phone call, or watch a concert halfway
around the world. But the dancer isn't interested in the
satellite; the dancer's interested in things the satellite makes
possible. Similarly, Internet users aren't going to be any more
interested in Java than they are in C++, but they might be
interested in things Java can make possible.
The third problem is that Java is not a Macintosh technology. Mac
users like their computers because of the things that distinguish
them from other systems. Java supports only its Virtual Machine,
which means that distinctive Macintosh technologies like
PlainTalk, Speech Recognition, QuickDraw GX, and countless others
will not be supported by Java directly. If we want to use these
Macintosh technologies over the Internet, we'll have to look
elsewhere.
Fortunately, there are places to look. Macintosh developers
haven't been sitting on their hands watching Java go by - they're
producing solutions that both take advantage of distinctive
Macintosh technologies and help make the possibilities of the
Internet more accessible to Macintosh users.
**MacBird** -- In May of 1995, Dave Winer made UserLand Frontier a
free product, focussing on the Internet and the Web community.
(See TidBITS-279_ and TidBITS-301_.) Frontier is a sophisticated
and robust OSA-compliant Macintosh scripting system; since its
public release, Frontier has become a standard for scripting CGI
applications on Mac Web servers.
One common criticism of Frontier has been its lack of integrated
interface tools. Unlike HyperCard, in which users create and
manipulate fields and buttons onscreen, Frontier provides almost
no interface tools save the ability to create and share menus with
some Frontier-savvy applications. Frontier let you do powerful
things, but it was mostly faceless.
Around the beginning of the year, however, Dave Winer made
available the first test release of MacBird, a script-based
interface designer targeted at the Web community. At this time,
MacBird relies on Frontier and requires a working knowledge of
UserTalk scripting to be useful. (There's also virtually no
documentation; remember this is a _test_ release.) However,
MacBird is interesting as a proof-of-concept and very likely
points down one road of Macintosh scripting on the Internet.
http://www.hotwired.com/staff/userland/macbird/
MacBird itself serves two functions. It is used to create and
design "cards," which are onscreen windows holding buttons,
fields, graphics, and other objects. These objects can have
scripts associated with them, so pushing a button can trigger
anything that could be carried out by a script. Cards are saved as
individual documents, and basic cards are quite small, usually
less than 10K.
MacBird also serves as a helper application that works with a Web
browser. When you click on a MacBird card on a Web site somewhere,
it's downloaded and opened by MacBird, giving you access to the
controls and interface in the card. The possibilities are wide-
ranging: two of Dave's example cards are a four-function
calculator (the obligatory scripting demo on the Internet, it
seems), and a card that takes your order for Chinese food and
sends it off via Eudora. A more humorous example that quickly
appeared after MacBird's release is a random Zen koan generator
from Brent Simmons , but Finger clients and
Web page tools are quickly beginning to appear as well. Brent has
kindly set up a temporary server to store MacBird cards as well as
a brief guide to authoring for MacBird; if you're at all
interested, this is a mandatory site.
http://www.wrldpwr.com/macbird/
Right now MacBird is only valuable to experienced Frontier
scripters, and most discussion is taking place on the Frontier-
Talk mailing list. But MacBird is literally a brand new tool with
the potential to bring Macintosh-specific scripting technologies
to life on the Internet in a compelling way. As of this writing, I
don't think anyone knows whether MacBird will be a freeware or
shareware product, a commercial endeavor, or something else
entirely.
http://www.hotwired.com/staff/userland/aretha/mailinglist_406.html
**Marionet** -- If Java is for hard-core developers and MacBird is
only for Frontier aficionados, what's out there for the rest of
us? One answer is Marionet, a new Internet protocol tool from
Allegiant Technologies, the same folks that make SuperCard. A
public beta of Marionet that expires on 31-Jan-96 is available
from Allegiant's Web site; the package includes the Marionet
application and materials, plus preliminary documentation.
http://www.allegiant.com/marionet/
Marionet is a faceless background application that works as an
intermediary between the Internet and dedicated applications on
the client machine, such as a SuperCard project, a HyperCard
stack, or a Director presentation. Via Marionet, these
applications can gain access to Internet services, integrating
them directly into the application in whatever manner seems
appropriate. Using Marionet, it should be possible to write a Web
browser or newsreader in HyperCard, a custom email client, a
mailing list manager, a set of Web authoring tools, or something
else entirely. Marionet allows authors to combine direct Internet
services with the interface and multimedia capabilities of
authoring environments, without having to learn C or Toolbox-level
Macintosh programming.
Marionet supports a number of protocols, including HTTP, FTP,
SMTP, NNTP, DNS, and Gopher searches, in addition to its own
custom "chat" protocol which lets authors to create real-time
collaborative applications via the Internet. Marionet can handle
asynchronous connections (so an application could upload files and
get new mail at the same time), and also allows synchronous
connections for finicky or specialized operations. Marionet can
serve a number of applications at the same time, so a HyperCard
stack could get news postings while an AppleScript resolved a list
of IP numbers into real site names. One of Marionet's strengths is
the comparative ease of setting up sessions, handling data
returned, and using that information directly within the client
application. There's not much obfuscating syntax to deal with, and
Marionet allows scripts to be simple yet surprisingly flexible.
Marionet's potential is undeniable, but there are potential rough
spots. Marionet's AppleScript support is still in development and
shouldn't be considered final. Applications such as FileMaker Pro
or Excel that would have to rely on AppleScript to communicate
with Marionet could be in for some surprises when the final
version becomes available. Also, though Allegiant supplies an XCMD
for applications like HyperCard and Director to interface with
Marionet, Marionet is clearly designed with SuperCard in mind. The
Marionet XCMD takes advantage of specific aspects of the SuperTalk
scripting language that aren't available in other applications,
forcing them to rely on global variables and receive responses via
an Apple event. Though these mechanisms are certainly workable,
they are rather awkward and make users of other authoring
applications feel as if they're being treated like second class
citizens. (Admittedly, this is Marionet's first public beta - it's
entirely possible this will change in future releases.)
Also, Allegiant doesn't have a strong background in the Internet
world. (At last year's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Allegiant
reps were consistently baffled at the concept of an online
publication like TidBITS.) To their credit, they have set up a
mailing list to discuss Marionet and now have a substantial online
presence, but one wonders how responsive they will be to the
Macintosh Internet community. It seems likely Allegiant will
position Marionet as a developers' tool: introductory pricing of
the final release is expected to be around $100, but the final
list price for Marionet will probably be significantly higher,
putting it out of reach of many online enthusiasts. I hope
Allegiant instead chooses to make Marionet an inexpensive,
accessible product, with a functional demonstration version
available freely online. Even with some drawbacks, a tool like
Marionet could earn a significant following among the Macintosh
community if it were inexpensive and widely available.
**Something's Brewing** -- Even if the much-touted Java isn't
accessible to typical Macintosh users (or typical Internet users,
for that matter), products are beginning to appear that have lower
entry thresholds and that allow users to exploit specific Mac
technologies. Admittedly, setting up custom Internet applications
is still more complicated than printingt labels from a word
processor, but enough new ideas and products are appearing that I
might not miss Java... if I had it.
Reviews/08-Jan-96
-----------------
* MacUser -- Jan-96
HP CopyJet M -- pg. 39
Infini-D 3.0 -- pg. 42
SyQuest EZ135 -- pg. 44
Authoring Tools -- pg. 50
Digital Chisel 2.0
HyperStudio 3.0
OCR Business Card readers -- pg. 54
La Cie VIP Scan
UMAX BizCard Reader
Claris Impact 2.0 -- pg. 57
MapLinx for Macintosh -- pg. 60
Speed Doubler -- pg. 65
AddDepth 2 -- pg. 67
At Ease for Workgroups 3.0/At Ease 3.0 -- pg. 68
The Black Box -- pg. 69
InfoGenie -- pg. 71
Color Compass -- pg. 73
CD-ROM Burners -- pg. 86
(too many to list)
PCI accelerated video cards -- pg. 96
(too many to list)
$$
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